Dontnod's Jean-Maxime Moris argues against EA's stance on new IP late in a console's lifespan.

As the PS3 and 360 wind down, publishers have been hesitant to throw that all-important funding at new IP. Both Ubisoft and EA have argued that new IP typically sells better at the beginning of a hardware cycle, prompting their reliance on sequels and reboots. A smattering of smaller studios have stepped up to argue for new IPs, including Dishonored developer, Arkane Studios, and most recently, Dontnod, the team behind Remember Me.

In an interview with VG247, Dontnod creative director, Jean-Maxime Moris, was asked to comment on a claim made by EA Labels President, Frank Gibeau, last month.

"Those guys think that people are basically saving up money for next-gen hardware, and that by having your game, your new IP launch at the beginning of that new cycle, that it's going to be easier to integrate into that cycle," Gibeau told Gamasutra.

"That's true," came Moris' response, "but the install base of the PS3 and the Xbox 360 has never been so big, and if you have something that's new enough, that's fresh enough, and interesting enough, you've never been able to sell it to as many people as now."

Judging by its all-too-brief trailers, Remember Me is a high-concept, sci-fi adventure with touches of Assassin's Creed and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The game is to be published by Capcom, and it's one of only a handful of new IPs coming from a major publisher. It's due for release on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in May, 2013.

Anyway both sides drive a good argument, but theyre both right. You can drive a new IP either by a launch-window release or by simply making it that good. However EA/Ubisofts approach is quite a bit safer than trying to get something different to appeal to the masses, as several flops over the years have proven.

Grey Carter:and it's one of only a handful of new IPs coming from a major publisher.

Discounting the 5 full-size full price new IPs that Sony are putting out next year, you mean?

Actually what are those? Im assuming for now it doesnt count Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale.

Considering All Stars is this year, that might have tipped you off.

They're The Last Of Us, Beyond: Two Souls, The Puppeteer, Tearaway, and Soul Sacrifice. Full range of age groups, of subject matter, of genres, and of stylistic influences, but all of them are full retail releases of new IPs.

Edit #1: Oh wait, I forgot, 6. The Last Guardian.

And yet people still think Sony don't make games.

Edit #2: I just realised, that with The Last Guardian added, these games Sony are putting out next year have a perfect balance between Eastern and Western. 1 Vita title and two Ps3 games each. One brutal, in your face violent game (The Last Of Us and Soul Sacrifice), one slightly softer, more emotional game that still has its violent moments, about the relationships between someone real and their mythological friend (Beyond: Two Souls and The Last Guardian), and one kid friendly game that has a unique mechanic that manages to not look gimmicky, and has a main character with a weird head(Puppeteer and Tearaway), from both sides.

It does look very nice. Pity it appears to suffer from a severe case of Capcom's recurring foot-in-mouth syndrome, that apparently has any good writers and talented voice actors in their vicinity running for the hills.

Still I'm sure the 3 low-level code-monkeys, the tea lady and the homeless man who sleeps on the stoop will do a stand-up job picking up the narrative slack.

No big surprise there. I think there are less new IP's because the biggest games being released are sequels from huge ass publishers, those people are too afraid to try new things (for the most part). I think there are new IP's all the time, but they get little or no coverage, OR gamers bitch and complain about things that are obviously budgetary in nature (look at all the awesome open minded comments regarding Of Orcs and Men). No wonder they are afraid to try new IP's.

Foolproof:Discounting the 5 full-size full price new IPs that Sony are putting out next year, you mean?

Actually what are those? Im assuming for now it doesnt count Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale.

Considering All Stars is this year, that might have tipped you off.

They're The Last Of Us, Beyond: Two Souls, The Puppeteer, Tearaway, and Soul Sacrifice. Full range of age groups, of subject matter, of genres, and of stylistic influences, but all of them are full retail releases of new IPs.

Edit #1: Oh wait, I forgot, 6. The Last Guardian.

And yet people still think Sony don't make games.

Edit #2: I just realised, that with The Last Guardian added, these games Sony are putting out next year have a perfect balance between Eastern and Western. 1 Vita title and two Ps3 games each. One brutal, in your face violent game (The Last Of Us and Soul Sacrifice), one slightly softer, more emotional game that still has its violent moments, about the relationships between someone real and their mythological friend (Beyond: Two Souls and The Last Guardian), and one kid friendly game that has a unique mechanic that manages to not look gimmicky, and has a main character with a weird head(Puppeteer and Tearaway), from both sides.

Just something that interests me.

Ah dang it, The Last Guardian is coming up next year?. I wish I had a PS3.

OT: While EA and Ubisoft's approach to new ideas is safer, it runs with a few risks. The fact that games released early on during a new generation tend to be more buggy because the hardware is still new being one of the most notorious. Not to mention that most of the developing time is probably spend on getting used to the console. Other thing I've noticed is that original games released at the end of a console generation tend to be more critically acclaimed (take Shadow of the Colossus and for example), but less commercially succesful. I'd say that both approaches have their pros and cons.

Actually what are those? Im assuming for now it doesnt count Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale.

Considering All Stars is this year, that might have tipped you off.

They're The Last Of Us, Beyond: Two Souls, The Puppeteer, Tearaway, and Soul Sacrifice. Full range of age groups, of subject matter, of genres, and of stylistic influences, but all of them are full retail releases of new IPs.

Edit #1: Oh wait, I forgot, 6. The Last Guardian.

And yet people still think Sony don't make games.

Edit #2: I just realised, that with The Last Guardian added, these games Sony are putting out next year have a perfect balance between Eastern and Western. 1 Vita title and two Ps3 games each. One brutal, in your face violent game (The Last Of Us and Soul Sacrifice), one slightly softer, more emotional game that still has its violent moments, about the relationships between someone real and their mythological friend (Beyond: Two Souls and The Last Guardian), and one kid friendly game that has a unique mechanic that manages to not look gimmicky, and has a main character with a weird head(Puppeteer and Tearaway), from both sides.

Just something that interests me.

Ah dang it, The Last Guardian is coming up next year. I wish I had a PS3.

OT: While EA and Ubisoft's approach to new ideas is safer, it runs with a few risks. The fact that games released early on during a new generation tend to be more buggy because the hardware is still new being one of the most notorious. Not to mention that most of the developing time is probably spend on getting used to the console. Other thing I've noticed is that original games released at the end of a console generation tend to be more critically acclaimed (take Shadow of the Colossus and Persona 4 for example), but less commercially succesful. I'd say that both approaches have their pros and cons.

Baresark:No big surprise there. I think there are less new IP's because the biggest games being released are sequels from huge ass publishers, those people are too afraid to try new things (for the most part).

Well, another reason is that no-one usually likes the new IPs better than the established franchises. How many of you think Catherine is a better game than Skyrim? Yeah, thats what I thought

Baresark:No big surprise there. I think there are less new IP's because the biggest games being released are sequels from huge ass publishers, those people are too afraid to try new things (for the most part).

Well, another reason is that no-one usually likes the new IPs better than the established franchises. How many of you think Catherine is a better game than Skyrim? Yeah, thats what I thought

Catherine was made by Atlus, a relatively obscure company. Not to mention the fact that it was marketed as a sort of dating sim, so it kind of went under the radar. On the other hand, if you asked people if Skyrim was better than Shadow of the Colossus, their opinions would vary more.

You also hopefully have all your tech issues well under control at that point too, so you're not trying to work on a new engine on new hardware and developing new IP and new control schemes/etc all at once.

There have been good launch games, but usually they're pretty half-baked. Takes a couple years for the really great stuff to start hitting.

As far as sales go, seems like you'd like to have a bigger installed base rather than less competition in a smaller initial base, but I guess that depends on whether people are still using your console (X360,PS3) or have mostly relegated them to the closet (Wii). Also, if your game is fantastic, you want the bigger base but if it's middling you'd want the reduced competition early in the launch cycle.

Baresark:No big surprise there. I think there are less new IP's because the biggest games being released are sequels from huge ass publishers, those people are too afraid to try new things (for the most part).

Well, another reason is that no-one usually likes the new IPs better than the established franchises. How many of you think Catherine is a better game than Skyrim? Yeah, thats what I thought

Catherine was made by Atlus, a relatively obscure company. Not to mention the fact that it was marketed as a sort of dating sim, so it kind of went under the radar.

That obscurity would only affect the games sales, not its popularity among those who played it. If people liked the game Skyrim more than a new IP, it just proves that being a new IP is not that important to ngamers - they will whine if its not a new IP, but will never celebrate a game much if it is a new IP.

Baresark:No big surprise there. I think there are less new IP's because the biggest games being released are sequels from huge ass publishers, those people are too afraid to try new things (for the most part).

Well, another reason is that no-one usually likes the new IPs better than the established franchises. How many of you think Catherine is a better game than Skyrim? Yeah, thats what I thought

No one on a large scale could disagree with you. But I'm sure that there are people out there that prefer it over Skyrim.... I just don't know any of them.

A new IP doesn't have to mean all new mechanics or gameplay style. A new IP could be familiar gameplay mechanics with new and interesting world, characters, and motivations. The problem with games that emulated God of War, for example, is that none were as interesting and more often than not, the mechanics were not implemented as well as they were on GOW. I'm just using that as an example of course. What did that do though? It made develeopers think that only GOW worked that way, and the gameplay style was not good for any new IP's. Look at Bethesday, first person RPG with a bunch of other interesting mechanics thrown in and you have Dishonored.

Edit: People will always choose the familiar over the non familiar. That is why white people like to live in white neighborhoods and black folks in black neighborhoods. Also why you are statistically more likely to marry someone who has a name that begins with the same letter. It's how we are written. It's not destiny or written, but people will always go for that things they are most familiar with.

Baresark:No big surprise there. I think there are less new IP's because the biggest games being released are sequels from huge ass publishers, those people are too afraid to try new things (for the most part).

Well, another reason is that no-one usually likes the new IPs better than the established franchises. How many of you think Catherine is a better game than Skyrim? Yeah, thats what I thought

No one on a large scale could disagree with you. But I'm sure that there are people out there that prefer it over Skyrim.... I just don't know any of them.

And how many of those people are the kind of braggart, pretentious, bad-hat-wearing douchefags who day in day out whine like bitches about a lack of new IP when their favourite games list consists entirely of sequels?

Foolproof:Well, another reason is that no-one usually likes the new IPs better than the established franchises. How many of you think Catherine is a better game than Skyrim? Yeah, thats what I thought

No one on a large scale could disagree with you. But I'm sure that there are people out there that prefer it over Skyrim.... I just don't know any of them.

And how many of those people are the kind of braggart, pretentious, bad-hat-wearing douchefags who day in day out whine like bitches about a lack of new IP when their favourite games list consists entirely of sequels?

Sorry, I lost my temper a bit there.

Haha, it was apropos. Luckily, all my real life friends aren't like that. They don't whine for new or original IP's, they are like me and just enjoy playing games. I was simply saying that I don't know anyone who even played that game... now that I think about it. Too bad too, it seemed interesting, but the timing for me personally was bad. I actually think I was the only person among my friends who was even aware of that game, we are mostly PC gamers.

Foolproof:Well, another reason is that no-one usually likes the new IPs better than the established franchises. How many of you think Catherine is a better game than Skyrim? Yeah, thats what I thought

I think Cathrine is better than Skyrim. So you thought wrong.

Are you in the majority opinion? No? Then I'm right. I never said no-one thinks that.

Never? Not even right there, in the quote directly above? XD

..reason is that no-one usually...

It's the whole reason I caught you up on it ;)Either way, don't go making an argument over this, it is really not worth wasting the time it would take to type it out XD.

Part of Cathrine's 'problem' was that it was console only, and aimed at a different market to a game like Skyrim, and it's subject matter also acts as a barrier to some(unlike a high-fantasy adventure which is more 'comfortable' to many audiences).

So for a real comparison we'd need to find a skyrim-like game that's also a new IP as a comparison point, in which case you can argue sequels do better cause they've got better advertising (since they're tied to an ongoing series for that extra attention and hype).

Are you in the majority opinion? No? Then I'm right. I never said no-one thinks that.

Never? Not even right there, in the quote directly above? XD

..reason is that no-one usually...

It's the whole reason I caught you up on it ;)

Yeah, and did you miss the word that follows it? Usually - a qualifier that here means that while is does happen, it is not common or even likely.

But anyway, as for a game like that - whats Kingdom of Amalurs metacritic score on the Xbox? 80. Whats Skyrims on the Xbox? 96. Reviewers give a 16 point edge to Skyrim despite (or, far more likely, because) its part of an established franchise.

It does look very nice. Pity it appears to suffer from a severe case of Capcom's recurring foot-in-mouth syndrome, that apparently has any good writers and talented voice actors in their vicinity running for the hills.

Still I'm sure the 3 low-level code-monkeys, the tea lady and the homeless man who sleeps on the stoop will do a stand-up job picking up the narrative slack.

It does look very nice. Pity it appears to suffer from a severe case of Capcom's recurring foot-in-mouth syndrome, that apparently has any good writers and talented voice actors in their vicinity running for the hills.

Still I'm sure the 3 low-level code-monkeys, the tea lady and the homeless man who sleeps on the stoop will do a stand-up job picking up the narrative slack.

A Bit More OT: While I'm not decided on this situation myself, it is very nice to see major publishers taking risks on new IPs in what would normally be a sequel-heavy period in the game console cycle.

Foolproof:Are you in the majority opinion? No? Then I'm right. I never said no-one thinks that.

Never? Not even right there, in the quote directly above? XD

..reason is that no-one usually...

It's the whole reason I caught you up on it ;)

Yeah, and did you miss the word that follows it? Usually - a qualifier that here means that while is does happen, it is not common or even likely.

But anyway, as for a game like that - whats Kingdom of Amalurs metacritic score on the Xbox? 80. Whats Skyrims on the Xbox? 96. Reviewers give a 16 point edge to Skyrim despite (or, far more likely, because) its part of an established franchise.

Your Skyrim Vs. Catherine argument seems to fail to take into account the genuine high-quality of Skyrim. Skyrim, on it's own merits, is arguably one of the most well-designed games of the whole generation.Using Skyrim as the example for your argument is a terrible idea as it automatically beats most competitors by default anyway. Also, crossing genres tends to make comparison a bitch. Rather than comparing an apple and an orange, you're comparing an apple and a steak. There's still a logical connection there, but it's a completely different type of food.

Yeah, and did you miss the word that follows it? Usually - a qualifier that here means that while is does happen, it is not common or even likely.

But anyway, as for a game like that - whats Kingdom of Amalurs metacritic score on the Xbox? 80. Whats Skyrims on the Xbox? 96. Reviewers give a 16 point edge to Skyrim despite (or, far more likely, because) its part of an established franchise.

Your Skyrim Vs. Catherine argument seems to fail to take into account the genuine high-quality of Skyrim. Skyrim, on it's own merits, is arguably one of the most well-designed games of the whole generation.Using Skyrim as the example for your argument is a terrible idea as it automatically beats most competitors by default anyway. Also, crossing genres tends to make comparison a bitch. Rather than comparing an apple and an orange, you're comparing an apple and a steak. There's still a logical connection there, but it's a completely different type of food.

No, it actually proves my point for all those reasons. If it is able to be one of the best received games of a generation and still be a sequel, that proves calls to original IP are irrelevant as being a sequel doesn't make a game worse in any way, and being a new IP doesn't make a game any better.

Foolproof:Yeah, and did you miss the word that follows it? Usually - a qualifier that here means that while is does happen, it is not common or even likely.

But anyway, as for a game like that - whats Kingdom of Amalurs metacritic score on the Xbox? 80. Whats Skyrims on the Xbox? 96. Reviewers give a 16 point edge to Skyrim despite (or, far more likely, because) its part of an established franchise.

Your Skyrim Vs. Catherine argument seems to fail to take into account the genuine high-quality of Skyrim. Skyrim, on it's own merits, is arguably one of the most well-designed games of the whole generation.Using Skyrim as the example for your argument is a terrible idea as it automatically beats most competitors by default anyway. Also, crossing genres tends to make comparison a bitch. Rather than comparing an apple and an orange, you're comparing an apple and a steak. There's still a logical connection there, but it's a completely different type of food.

No, it actually proves my point for all those reasons. If it is able to be one of the best received games of a generation and still be a sequel, that proves calls to original IP are irrelevant as being a sequel doesn't make a game worse in any way, and being a new IP doesn't make a game any better.

It doesn't prove anything, because your point is inherently unprovable in any sort of objective fashion. You're trying to take an inherently subjective qualifier such as 'like' and, without using any sort of statistical base or test group, state that one game is better than another due to whether it is liked more. You're not basing your claims on any sort of hard facts, only the most anecdotal of evidence. Not only that, but you're comparing games from completely different genres, with completely different playstyles and mechanics, and different approaches to storytelling.

It's like claiming that How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days is a better film than Requiem For A Dream/Million Dollar Baby because it's a more 'likeable' film.

For what it's worth. I like Catherine a lot more than Skyrim. The writing is far more introspective, thematic and symbolic than anything Bethesda has offered. It tackles ideas that games very rarely go into, whereas Skyrim is standard fantasy-lore in almost every respect.

As for new IPs: encouraging creativity is always a good thing. Skyrim may be a good Elder Scrolls game, but just imagine what Bethesda could have done if they'd taken all the best elements of its design, and created a new IP instead.

We have currently got a very real problem in how risk averse publishers have become in funding new games. That is not a good sign. A healthy industry is one that encourages new ideas and creativity. If an industry is having to rely on a stream of sequels and cash cow franchises in order to make money, then that is not a good sign. New games are a sign that publishers have the money and inclination to risk on fresh ideas.